The largest employer in the northern city of Ontario Sue. Marie receives half a billion dollars in state loans to maintain her labor in the face of American tariffs.
The federal minister of workplaces Patti Hadju made an announcement at a steel plant on Monday morning.
The federal government entered the “time sheet” through its “large tariff loan for the enterprise” to provide the Algoma Steel from a loan of $ 400 million, and the Ontario government agreed to provide $ 100 million in accordance with the same conditions.
The release from Ottawa states that financing is to allow the plant to “continue operations, go to a business model less dependent on the United States and limit violation of its labor force.”
“Our corporations are not safe from the attacks that we see, or from changing technologies that come to our path,” Hada, Hader to reporters on Monday.
A loan is part of financing in the amount of $ 10 billion announced in March for large companies to help them fight tariffs and countermeasures. It complements many other measures related to the tariff declared by the federal government for the Canadian steel industry.
Bar High for loans from taxpayers' money, says general director
Algoma Steel General Director Michael Garcia, who was also at the morning press conference on Monday, noted that loans would buy Algoma Steel, a valuable time to solve current tasks related to tariffs.
Garcia, standing in front of one of the two future electric arc furnaces of the mill, said that the loan would also provide such a necessary assistance, since the company is moving from the production of COCS.
“[The tariffs] They took our largest historical market and effectively closed it to us, ”he said. “We must adjust our production, reduce expenses and plunge into the future, where we will primarily flourish in the Canadian market of domestic steel.”
According to Garde, additional details related to loans, including interest, will ultimately be published for the public.
He said that a bar for public control and openness with the government is high, since financing $ 500 million is delivered directly from Ontarian and Canadian taxpayers.
But as long as the country's economy flourishes, it will also be a steel industry, Garcia said.
“If you look at the future prime minister [Mark] Carni and the new government said that this is the future, which includes more expenses for defense, more marine expenses and infrastructure expenses, ”he said,“ combine the declared government preferences that steel should be Canadian, which will lead to the prosperous industry of internal steel. ”
Changes made in the satisfaction of demand
According to Garcia, the Algoma Steel business, working on plates, remains strong. Nevertheless, there is not enough demand for the business coil of the plant.
“We are going to reduce part of this production in the future,” he said. “We must understand what we are diversifying about?
Hademhaw said that the announcement of the loan remains significant investments in the future of employees in Sault Ste. Marie.
“I cannot predict what will happen in the future, but I can tell you that we are all together. If there are dismissal for some time, the Canadian government will be there with instruments for training, since employees may need to rethink various processes and types of production methods. ”
Founded in 1901, Algoma Steel states that it is currently one of the leading manufacturers of steel and plates with hot and cold and cold products. About 2,600 people work in it, in which the population is about 72,000 people.
In July, the company said that it applied for a loan of $ 500 million from Ottawa, since it is faced with 50 percent tariffs for Canadian steel export to the United States.
In the press release at that time, the company said that it “concerns significant impact”, which tariffs have on their activities and prospects.
